Dr. Gregory Hall, mistaken as robbery suspect
Evanston, IL — Dr. Gregory Hall, a Black American doctor in Evanston, became a victim of mistaken identity. He was walking home from a public library when he was suddenly stopped by police officers and was wrongfully detained for alleged robbery.
The 60-year-old doctor was walking down the Main Street after spending some time in the Evanston Public Library when police officers surrounded him. He said they approached him with weapons drawn, forcefully handcuffed him, and brought him to his knees. A video from the body camera worn by an officer proves that.
Evanston Police Commander Ryan Glew justifies that Hall was detained because of his matching descriptions with the real suspect until an eyewitness and a picture from the store’s security camera confirmed that they got the wrong person.
Glew said that on that same day, there were two robberies, one from a thrift store near the library. The suspect was described as a Black man, 50 to 60 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a thin build, and has facial hair.
Glew said that Hall was handcuffed because he was not cooperative. Hall, on the other hand, insists that the police should have had checked his whereabouts first instead of drawing out weapons and handcuffing him right away. He also specified the fact that he was 6 feet 2 inches, not 5 feet 8 inches.
Hall, a licensed naprapath or holistic medical practitioner, said his hands were injured because of the encounter making him unable to work with his hands properly.
Hall has filed a police misconduct complaint to the Evanston Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards. “My concern is it will happen to other people if we don’t get the word out,” Hall said in a news interview.